Travel & Tourism

The walking trail around Manchester where you can see the beautiful spring blossom in full bloom

It's the most beautiful time of year.

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson - 6th April 2023

A new walking trail has been created around Greater Manchester to celebrate the spring blossom – and it’s going to be absolutely beautiful.

This is the time of year where nature puts on its most dazzling displays, with pink and white flowers blooming on trees across the UK, with (hopefully) a background of blue skies and sunshine.

And in 2023, the National Trust is shining a spotlight on Manchester, where green spaces are more plentiful than you might think.

The charity has created a 30-stop Bloomtown trail all around the city centre and beyond where you can soak in the prettiest of springtime scenes.

From the famous purple blooms in St Peter’s Square to the showers of blossom in Alexandra Park to the clouds of pink in Sackville Gardens.

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Some of the city’s newest spots are included on the trail too, including, notably, the Castlefield Viaduct.

Blossom on Castlefield Viaduct, Manchester
Blossom on Castlefield Viaduct, Manchester. Credit: The Manc Group

This abandoned old industrial beast has just recently been turned into a new urban skypark by the National Trust, drawing comparisons to New York City’s High Line.

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The Castlefield Viaduct is now home to 63 small-but-might Fuji Cherry trees, which are already bursting in bloom.

Also new to the city is Mayfield Park, the huge project which saw the River Medlock uncovered and a new green space created. The site is home to a huge variety of flowering trees and is about to celebrate its first spring since opening to the public.

Blossom will also return to Sadler’s Yard for the first time in centuries, as Plant NOMA and the National Trust create a pop-up display as an homage to the orchard believed to once be here.

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Other highlights to seek out will be Angel Meadow (formerly a mass grave), Cutting Room Square (with great bars around it too), and Manchester Cathedral (with 250,000 bees living on its roof).

The National Trust says that blossom is at its best in Manchester in April (but ‘no one tells nature what to do’) so now is the perfect time to start planning your adventure.

You’ll be looking out for cherry blossom, apple and crab apple blossom, hawthorn blossom, Rowan blossom, magnolia, and foxgloves.

The National Trust ‘Bloomtown’ blossom trail around Manchester

  1. Alexandra Park
  2. Angel Meadow
  3. Ardwick Green
  4. Birchfields Park
  5. Birley Community Orchard
  6. Bridgewater Community Garden
  7. Castlefield Viaduct
  8. Cutting Room Square
  9. Gartside Gardens
  10. Hullard Park
  11. Hulme Park
  12. Manchester Cathedral
  13. Mayfield Park
  14. Ordsall Hall
  15. Parsonage Gardens
  16. Peel Park
  17. Philips Park
  18. Platt Fields Park
  19. Queen’s Park
  20. Rochdale Canal Lock 87
  21. Rochdale Canal Lock 89
  22. Sackville Gardens
  23. Sadler’s Yard
  24. St George’s Park
  25. St John’s Gardens
  26. St Peter’s Square
  27. Tariff Street
  28. Thomas Street Pocket Park
  29. University of Manchester Students’ Union
  30. Whitworth Street West

Featured image: The Manc Group

Travel & Tourism

This Manchester hotel has a Bonfire Night ‘escape’ package for pets to help keep them calm

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant

One of Manchester’s most luxurious hotels is transforming into the ultimate pet refuge again over the firework season.

Bonfire Night is loved across the UK for the spectacular firework displays and all the festive-themed activities that go along with it, but the November annual event isn’t so fun for our four-legged friends, as fireworks can be frightening to pets due to loud bangs, flashing lights, and the unpleasant strong smell of spent explosives.

With multiple bangs occurring from numerous displays too, pets are rarely able to pinpoint where the booming explosions are coming from, only making it more terrifying for them.

This is why, after becoming a huge success following its launch last year, Kimpton Clocktower Hotel in the heart of the city centre has brought back its special ‘Bonfire Night Escape’ escape package, turning the already pet-friendly hotel into a firework-free sanctuary.

The hotel‘s year-round ‘PAWfect Stay’ package includes any dog staying at no extra cost, plus a pet tuckbox, a guide to the best dog-friendly places in the city, and a toy waiting for them in the room, but this fireworks season, pet owners will also get a luxury hamper including Pet Remedy’s ‘Party Season Survival Kit’

The kit comes together with a range of fast-acting products to help immediately in stressful situations such as fireworks, and includes calming spray, a plug diffuser, and some calming wipes too.

On top of that, dog owners can also take advantage of the hotel’s Music Concierge service, which allows guests to request a record player and vinyls to be placed in the room ahead of check in – with lots of classical and relaxing music records available to distract anxious pets from the noise of Bonfire Night celebrations.

Kimpton Clocktower Hotel has a Bonfire Night ‘escape’ package to help keep pets calm / Credit: Elisha Terada (via Unsplash)

The award-winning The Refuge Bar and Restaurant inside the hotel also offers a menu of carefully-curated dog treats throughout the week, as well as doggy Sunday roasts all Sunday.

David Lockhart, who is the General Manager at Kimpton Clocktower Hotel, said he likes to think of the hotel as a “home-away-from-home for our guests”.

“Our top priority is making sure everyone is feeling safe and comfortable,” he added. “We can’t wait to welcome our November guests and help them care for their four-legged family members, giving them everything they need.”

Read more:

The Bonfire Night Escape package at Kimpton Clocktower Hotel is available to book from Friday 1 November, subject to availability, and you can request the package via the hotel concierge or by emailing [email protected] to book.

Find out more here.

Featured Image – Jody Hartley (via Supplied)

Travel & Tourism

You can fly straight to paradise with direct flights from Manchester to Barbados

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson You can fly direct from Manchester to Barbados with Aer Lingus. Credit: Unsplash, Tom Jur

Good news sun-seekers – Aer Lingus has relaunched its direct flights between Manchester and Barbados, so you could be swapping out commute for hammock in a heartbeat. 

Aer Lingus will be jetting off straight to the tropical paradise of Barbados from Manchester between 1 November and 31 May, with three direct flights a week.

That’s along with all their routes to bucket list destinations like New York, Orlando, Las Vegas, and LA.

And the best bit is that you could take your Caribbean trip of a lifetime from just £389 return until 31 May 2025 (T&Cs apply). 

These super-affordable direct flights head straight to Bridgetown, the colourful capital of Barbados. 

From there, you have the trip of a lifetime at your fingertips – whether you want to feast on Bajan cuisine, explore the colonial towns, or just relax on white-sand, world-class beaches. 

You can explore sugarcane fields and visit wonders like Harrison’s Cave, where electric tram tours whisk passengers through an amazing natural cave with waterfalls, deep emerald pools, and thousands of stalactites and stalagmites.

There’s a 1000-year-old Baobab tree you can see, green monkeys to spot at the Barbados Wildlife Reserve, and culinary tours of the island you can take.

You can fly direct from Manchester to Barbados with Aer Lingus. Credit: Unsplash, Tom Jur
You can fly direct from Manchester to Barbados with Aer Lingus. Credit: Unsplash, Tom Jur
You can fly direct from Manchester to Barbados with Aer Lingus. Credit: Unsplash, Tom Jur

Some of the best bits of Barbados lie just off its coast, and there are loads of boat trips you can book, where you can snorkel in the island’s beautiful waters. 

And the best time to head out to Barbados is when the weather is coldest back home – the island country is beautifully balmy and dry during the UK’s autumn, winter and spring. 

Whatever your perfect winter escape looks like, Aer Lingus can get you there – plus, with the friendliest cabin crew in the skies, there’s more than one reason to book your trip with the airline. 

Aer Lingus flights guarantee properly comfortable seats, in-flight entertainment, and meals on board, so your flight will quite literally fly by (but you might not want it to end). 

Or to start your bucket list trip off in the best way possible, there are business class flights to Barbados, with fully lie-flat seats, delicious seasonal meals, free WiFi, and so much more.

You can book your flight from Manchester to Barbados with Aer Lingus HERE. 

Read more: The beautifully restored VW camper van you can rent from Oldham

Featured image: Unsplash, Tom Jur

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